My Connections to Play

My childhood was filled with play, imagination, and discovery, and I think that's why as I became an educator I made that a part of my educational philosophy. I grew up with creative parents, who allowed me to experience life as it happened. They encouraged creativity in my play, and always made sure I had opportunities to imagine. 

Play in my younger years were centered around two core items. 

First, there was Edna

And then my outdoor play kitchen (it looked VERY similar to this) 

I spent more time with Edna in that outdoor kitchen that you can possibly imagine. My dad had set up the kitchen in a little corner of the backyard behind a bush, it had running water (if you filled up the little tank), and playing house was my favorite thing to do. I would bring Edna and my little sister out and we would create entire universes around that little area in our backyard. 

Growing up I was very lucky to attend a day care program in our small town that was probably more forward thinking than anyone knew at that time. They had a basic play based curriculum, and encouraged children to interact, imagine, and learn all through play. I feel lucky that I had this experience, because it helped me to understand the importance of play, and how learning through play really works. 

Overall, play throughout the ages has been very similar. Children just need to be given the opportunity to play, and they will PLAY! In day care, my play opportunities were very similar to schools I work at now, some 30 years later. And that has really shaped me as an adult. I wish that more adults had the same opportunity as I did growing up. I also wish that more children today would have the opportunity to just play. 

Relationship Reflection

Creating and fostering real relationships in my life are so important to me. Why, you may ask? The people in my life are what keep me going, and are what have helped make me the person I am today.
The picture to the left is my brother in law, sister and myself on my 30th birthday. Who wants to turn 30?! I certainly didn't. My 30th birthday represented a reflection period. A time, where I looked back and said, wow, is this where I thought I would be? NOT an easy period to go through. You know who supported me, helped me, made me laugh, and made me realize that I was an amazing 30 year old? These people. My sister and her husband (who had only been married a few months at that time) really showed me how creating positive relationships can help personally and professionally. My relationship with my sister is similar to many other sibling relationships. It took us both getting past our early 20s before we really realized that we liked each other. After that, we became real, adult best friends. When she added her boyfriend/fiancee/husband into the mix, our little group was complete! I worked hard to create a positive relationship with them both individually and together as a group, which I think is one of the reasons why we continue to have a really positive relationship. I know that I can count on her husband, he can count on me, we all love her, and in the end, we can all share a beer and laugh at each other!

Great relationships are usually easy to continue with relative simplicity. It's those relationships that require a little bit more attention that are harder to keep going. In a world where Facebook, snapchat, Instagram, and other social media outlets give us all of the information we need, streaming live, on the internet, it's easy to lose real time communication with people. Facebook lets us see what they are eating, where they went for their birthday, how their children are doing in school, and many other personal details, so much so that sometimes I forget that it's important to have individual conversations with people on a regular basis.

The positive and negative relationships that I have had over the years has definitely had an impact on my experience as an educational administrator. I use bits and pieces from my life daily, whether it be communicating with a parent who is upset, counseling a teacher who needs advice, and even talking with a child who needs a little extra attention after a melt down. It's my belief that every relationship in my life has served a purpose, whether it be positive or negative. Every person has effected me, my professional and my personal life in one way or another.

Wrapping up another class!

What an 8 weeks it's been! I've met new people, continued relationships, left a job, and started a new one. I've really appreciated a deeper, more intricate look into childhood development during this course. I think that sometimes, as professional educators, it's easy to forget how things start. I find myself getting caught up in "this one child I worked with" and "in my experience" and forget about just going back to the basics of development. I've really appreciated learning all of that again.

Here are some thoughts on early childhood development, working with children, and then just some stuff for fun :)

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world."

- Maria Montessori

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre."

- Gail Godwin

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

- Frederick Douglass

"Now, today, some children are enrolled in excellent programs. Some children are enrolled in mediocre programs. And some are wasting away their most formative years in bad programs....That's why I'm issuing a challenge to our states: Develop a cutting-edge plan to raise the quality of your early learning programs; show us how you'll work to ensure that children are better prepared for success by the time they enter kindergarten. If you do, we will support you with an Early Learning Challenge Grant that I call on Congress to enact."

- President Barack Obama

When children pretend, they're using their imaginations tomove beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magicwand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.

- Fred Rogers

Thank you, THANK YOU to my classmates for being supportive, constructive, and SO helpful as we wade through this program. I appreciate all of your insight and criticism each week, and look forward to every challenge as we learn so much about each other, our unique experiences, and diverse personalities. 

A special thanks to two wonderful women who keep me going every single week. They challenge me with every post, every paper, and every blog, not only as an educator but also as a person in general. Stephanie and Lauren, you are amazing women. I am so lucky to have been placed in courses with you! 

Testing for Intelligence

     This week's lessons have focused on assessing school aged children and how that effects the children and family who have then been labeled by their disability. It is often times funny to me how topics that I am discussing for school seem to pop up in my professional life as well. 

     This week at a training for my new position we were discussing how assessing children does not include some of the most important aspects of a child's personality. Like, how do you test for creativity, curiosity, compassion, bravery, tolerance, empathy, honesty, friendship, or courage? As educators, we should hope that we are instilling these traits in the children we work with (no matter what age), but is there any way to test that they have these skills, and does the assessment that we currently use take any of these traits into account? The answer that we came up with at my training was no, the assessment we currently use bases most information on academics and specific behaviors. Most tests focus solely on academic ability, at that is what either moves a child forward, or holds them back. 

     In my personal opinion I think that information on all aspects of a child should be taken into account. It's possible that Suzie is a little behind on her math skills, but at 7 she is a very compassionate person, and deeply cares for her fellow students. Some assessments, such as the PIC-2 reflect more information about a child's personality, but again, does not measure some of the basic traits that we hope to instill in our children. 

     

     In other countries, assessment, and child growth is looked at a little differently, or more aspects are taken into account. "When rural parents in Africa talk about the intelligence of children, they prefer not to separate the cognitive speed aspect of intelligence from the social responsibility aspect" (Benson, 2003). In Africa research has shown that in different areas there are different thoughts about intelligence. They have found there are four concepts, rieko, luoro, paro and winjo. Rieko corresponds with the Western idea of academic intelligence; luoro deals with social qualities; paro is practical thinking; and winjo is comprehension (Benson, 2013). Western learning focuses so much on the academic training of children, or rieko, when in reality there are so many more parts of a child's personality, and many of their parts can be attributed to their success in life, not just that of academic success. 

    Overall, I believe that assessing children in one way, shape, or form is helpful. Those that need extra attention, whether it be academically or behaviorally can have access to more help after they have been assessed. I think it's important for parents to have a knowledge of how their child compares to others academically. With that said, I do not think that academic assessment is the only way to determine if a child is successful in school or not. 

Reference

Benson, E. (2003). Intelligence across cultures. American Psychological Association, 34(2), 56. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.aspx

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Stressors can come in many shapes and forms for children, some more significant than others, however the effects of long term stressors can be damaging to children as they get older and can significantly harm their development. At the beginning of my career in early childhood I was a teacher at a center that was located in the low housing district in my college town. The "Housing Authority" child care center was there for children of parents who were living in the assisted complex. I was the infant/toddler room teacher and spent 9 hours of my day with 10 of the most amazing little people I have ever known. Unfortunately, they were experiencing things that my upper-middle class upbringing had never really presented me. 

Each day some of the children I worked with would come in hungry, dirty, and in the winter, very cold. I did everything that I could to support these families, as a young adult, I think that I had the plan that I could help all of them, unfortunately that was not always the case. To help those that I could I contacted local charities to provide warm clothes, I worked with a local food pantry to help provide food, and during the day I gave those kids the most love, support, and full tummies that I could. 

While I myself did not experience many stressors growing up, these children were experiencing doubly. Some of those kids are still around in the community, and I actually happened upon a mother of one of them on Facebook just not that long ago. Her child, Gavin, is a happy, healthy 11 year old now, doing great in school, and is excelling in sports. When I talked to this mother, she told me that those first couple of years at the Housing Authority were ones that she credited to Gavin being so successful now. I would never say that I was the only reason that her child is doing great, he has hard working parents and a huge support system, I was just a small part of his early development. There are 9 other children from that class that I don't know where they ended up or how they are doing. 

Poverty and hunger are two stressors on child development that are seen all over the world. In an article from the Mirror, England's poverty and hungry children are noted. "In our poll, more than 85% of teachers quizzed in the survey said there has been an increase in the number of pupils turning up to school in the past two years without having eaten breakfast" (Parry, 2013). Some groups like the Magic Breakfast charity have worked hard at raising funds to provide meals to children who need to eat. I think that many areas of the world need help in this area, including here at home in the United States. 

As I move forward in my career I will always think about those children that I worked with, and how I can continue to help children like them. They will always have a place in my heart, and will always make me try a little harder for the children that really need it!

Reference

Parry, T. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-hungry-children-desperate-schoolchildren-2325369#ixzz2s7qckqlk 

Child Development and Public Health

Several years ago a friend of mine experienced the joy of bringing her first child into the world. Her and her husband brought home a beautiful bouncing baby boy from the hospital just a day after having him. Baby B was alert, pink, handsome, and the light of mom and dad's life. Because I work in early childhood and have worked with children professionally for a while now, it seems that my friends are always looking to me for a quick evaluation after they bring home a new baby, especially my friends who have and their first child. Little do they know I just really like holding babies and fawning all over them! When I first met Baby B he was about 3 weeks old, I held him, loved on him, and gave Mom a well deserved 2 hour nap. During our time together B seemed to be a typically developing 3 week old. He had amazing neck control, focused on the sounds of my voice and singing, and was a plump little bundle of love. I very much so enjoyed the time that I spent with him that day. Things would change in just a matter of weeks for my sweet friends and their child.

Three weeks later, Baby B was no longer with us. His sitter had gone to check on him in his crib and he was not breathing. My friends had lost their first child, and there was nothing they could have done differently. B passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is defined as the sudden death of an infant less than 1 year of age that cannot be explained after a thorough investigation is conducted, including a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history" (CDC). Each year SIDS claims the life of 2,500 children each year (kidshealth.org). Like Baby B, SIDS strikes out of the blue and usually with children who can be described as typically developing. While some issues such as poor prenatal care, low birth weight, tobacco use during pregnancy, and inappropriate sleeping arrangements can increase the likelihood of SIDS, there is no direct cause and there is no cure (kidshealth.org).

My friends did everything they could to prepare themselves for parenthood. They read the books, they took prenatal vitamins, they had their house safety inspected, didn't smoke or drink during pregnancy, and still they fell victim to an experience that no parent should ever have to deal with. SIDS effects children from all races, countries, and socioeconomic statuses (kids health.org). Information for families has become available to help reduce the risk of SIDS, but as there is no specific cause, there is no way to completely eradicate it from our world.

In my experience in working at early childhood centers, SIDS is something that we always train our infant room teachers about. They all receive First Aid and CPR training and are given very specific instructions on how to handle a situation like this in their classroom. Through my research today for this blog, I think that it's important that teachers continue to receive yearly training. Many parents trust teachers with their infants for sometimes 10 hours a day, we have to be prepared to do what we can to make sure that in an instant we are able to try and save a child.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Sudden unexpected infant death (SUIDS). Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/sids/

Kids Health. (2011). Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  Retrieved from: http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/sleep/sids.html#

Birth Story

This weeks assignment is to talk about a personal birth story. I struggled with this all week, as I don't have a personal birthing story. I am a single, 30-something, with a younger sister who has chosen to not have children, and a group of friends that chose to be alone during their very personal birthing experiences. Luckily, this weekend I was able to spend time with my mom and dad out of town, and they were able to talk with me about a birthing story they know quite well; My own!

Almost exactly 31 years ago (my birthday is Tuesday), my parents were preparing to welcome their first child into the world. My mother, an avid reader, had read books, taken classes, and had developed an excellent relationship with her doctor. On the morning of my birth my mother prepared herself by relaxing, staying calm, and practicing the techniques she had read so much about.  My father, who was very ready to become a daddy, was not allowed to be present in the delivery room. My mom chose to have an all natural birth, and did not accept medicine. She said it's the best decision she's every made. I was born at 8:29am on January 14th, 1983 after several hours of natural labor. When my dad was finally brought into the room, he asked the doctor, "Can I touch her?" The doctor replied, "well, yes, she's yours  now!"

Both of my parents mark this as a defining moment in their lives, and I would have to agree, as it obviously had an impact on my existence. I believe that my mothers choices to have a natural birth, to breast feed me, and to raise me in an environment with love and a close family was integral to my early development, and has helped me to become the person I am today.

Many less developed cultures view childbirth in a similar manner as my mother; natural. I did some research on different birthing experiences all over the world, and found an interesting article on South Africa (http://www.spiritualbirth.net/birth-in-south-africa-indigenous-traditions). "Unlike our attitude in the western world where women are offered pain relief at the slightest twinge that labour may have begun, a young !Kung woman is actively taught that she must face the pains of natural childbirth with courage and fearlessness" (2011). My mother viewed the prospect of her first birthing experience in the same way as a !Kung woman, and I am glad that she did!

Reference

Littlejohn, M. (2011, January).  Birth in South Africa: Indigenous traditions. Spiritualbirth.net. Retrieved January 11, 2013 from http://www.spiritualbirth.net/birth-in-south-africa-indigenous-traditions